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News, May 2005Winter drought brings stored water to record lows1 May. The environment minister, Cristina Narbona has called on all to conserve water, after winter rainfall (November to March) was at its lowest since 1947. Levels in the reservoirs, as we head into the usually dry summer season, can only guarantee supplies to homes until October. In some regions, such as dry Murcia, where intensive agriculture combines with coastal holiday and retirement homes (10,000 British live there permanently), water may need to be rationed earlier. The 1947 drought and several dry years at the start of the 1950s brought severe famine to much of Spain, in part relieved by the Marshall Plan. How Spain has changed in these 58 years! It seems strange that just weeks ago we were writing about snow falls blocking roads, but apart from these falls these was very little 'precipitation' during the past months. |